Belvidere man linked to fatal hit and run accident

BELVIDERE - Police have charged a 49-year-old Belvidere man Friday in conneciton to Monday night's fatal hit-and-run accident on East State Street in Rockford.

Dean H. McCullough is being held in the Winnebago County Jail on charges of failure of owner to make notification of a motor vehicle accident and failure of registered owner to maintain liability insurance.

Monday, police and fire personnel were dispatched at 9:20 p.m. to East State Street and Interstate 90 for a pedestrian hit and run accident.

Upon arrival officers learned four men were walking west on East State Street just west of the I-90 overpass when two of the men were hit by a dark colored General Motors SUV.

The deceased victim was identified as 27-year-old Liu Weixue, a resident of Shanghai China. The second victim, 36-year-old Zhang Xin, also of Shaghai, China, remains in grave condition on life support at a Rockford hospital.

Wednesday, a description of the offending vehicle - a 1999-2001 GMC Jimmy with front-end and passenger-side damage, a missing black passenger's side door mirror, and possibly a maroon after-market front spoiler - was released to the public.

Thursday, Rockford police traffic investigators followed up on a tip and went to a home in the 2100 block of Pengate Parkway in Belvidere.

Friday, the officers returned to the home with Boone County Sheriff's deputies and served a search warrante. The officers found a maroon 1999 GMC Jimmy with significant front-end and passenger-side damage in the attached garage and arrested McCullough.

The case is still under investigation and anyone with information is asked to call the Rockford Police Department at 815-987-5824 or Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.